Amid the chaos, do not go softly into the night<\/p>\n
A short while ago on a flight to Jakarta, my fellow passenger, a
\nwoman from Beijing, told me about her fears regarding security in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
I downplayed those concerns, saying that the outside world
\ngenerally had an exaggerated picture of the situation in
\nIndonesia, and that life in Jakarta was in reality no more
\ndangerous than in most big cities around the world.<\/p>\n
After Sept. 9's bomb blast, I doubt she left Jakarta feeling
\nthat way.<\/p>\n
Terrorism is not confined to any one culture, religion or
\nrace. Whether it is Tamil Tiger suicide bombers or the IRA or al-
\nQaeda, it signals the end of engagement in normal political
\ndiscourse and negotiation.<\/p>\n
For ordinary people like you and me, we are faced with a
\nterrible sense of helplessness and vulnerability because it seems
\nthere is no way to respond to and deal with these acts of
\nviolence.<\/p>\n
In the last few years, this feeling of helplessness has grown;
\nit seems we can hardly switch on the TV or radio most days
\nwithout learning of some new act of terrorism around the globe.<\/p>\n
And the worst of it is that some of these things are now
\nhappening in our own backyards or those of our friends.<\/p>\n
Granted, the world is a very complicated place and there are
\nmany legitimate grievances out there, from Palestine to Iraq.<\/p>\n
Granted, there are many people out there fighting for what
\nthey believe is their right to independence.<\/p>\n
All this is granted, but there still remains no justification
\nfor the taking of innocent lives.<\/p>\n
Terrorism is not exclusive to any religion but rather
\nexclusive to people with serious kinks in their makeup. Still,
\nthe cold fact remains that these days the headlines are more
\noften than not about some act of atrocity carried out in the name
\nof or somehow linked to Islam.<\/p>\n
Like it or not, a perception has been created in many people's
\nminds where terror is equated with radical Islam, leading to a
\nkind of Islamophobia.<\/p>\n
The question is why do some Muslims around the world allow
\nthemselves to be tainted by association to these madmen who would
\ndestroy the world for their own purposes?<\/p>\n
A while ago the then Archbishop of Canterbury came under fire
\nfor saying that the Muslim world, particularly leaders in the
\nMiddle East, had not made enough effort to unequivocally condemn
\nand thus curb terrorism.<\/p>\n
And when one reflects that acts of terror are carried out not
\nonly in the \"infidel West\" but in the heart of the world's
\nlargest Muslim nation, where most of the victims are inevitably
\nMuslims, one does indeed wonder why there is not more outrage.<\/p>\n
I am no scholar of religion and perhaps unqualified to debate
\nreligious matters. Nor do I wish to. But surely it is time to
\ndemystify and delink faith from ideology.<\/p>\n
Terrorism is here and real, but what does it have to do with
\nfaith? A bomb kills without discrimination. This is not about
\nreligion -- it is about humanity. It is inhumane to kill another
\nhuman being. It is a kind of inhuman madness to twist and
\ninterpret the writings of any religious text to justify and even
\nglorify mayhem and death.<\/p>\n
What has happened is that a handful of people living outside
\nthe bounds of normal morality have been allowed to project their
\nversion and interpretation of the world around them and to
\njustify it in the name of religion. And the sad truth is they are
\ngetting away with it.<\/p>\n
Many terrorists in the past and present have used and abused
\nreligion for their purposes whether it be Hindus, Buddhists,
\nCatholics, Protestants, Muslims or Jews. It does not say so much
\nabout the various religions as it does about the type of human
\nbeings they are. These are people who choose to see the world in
\nrigid destructive dichotomies -- black versus white, believer and
\nunbeliever, us against them. This is what we all have to fight
\nand resist.<\/p>\n
It is too simple, lazy and unquestioning to demonize the
\nAmericans and the West because of certain misguided actions or
\ndecisions taken by their leaders; it is equally too simple, lazy
\nand unquestioning to demonize Muslims because the headline-
\ngrabbing terrorists today call themselves Muslims.<\/p>\n
When we accept these dichotomies, the terrorists have won
\nbecause we have accepted their way of looking at the world.<\/p>\n
But all this will not be helped by quiescence. To say nothing,
\nto do nothing, to not express outrage in the strongest possible
\nterms and in the loudest way possible is to acquiesce in crimes
\ncarried out against humanity.<\/p>\n
Muslims around the world owe it to themselves to speak up
\nlouder or to make their leaders speak up on their behalf, to show
\nthe world that they will not allow themselves to be tarred with
\nthe same brush as these criminals. They also owe it to themselves
\nto weed out those criminal elements in their community that would
\ntwist religion to suit their own deadly purposes.<\/p>\n
To do that they must stand up and be counted against terrorism
\nthat is carried out in the name of their religion.<\/p>\n
-- Maxine Hon<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/amid-the-chaos-do-not-go-softly-into-the-night-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }